Adventures with lightweight and minimalist software for Linux

nsuds: A text-based tour-de-force

I saved nsuds to the end of the month specifically because I could see that it was a fine piece of work.

I should point out that I’m no kind of sudoku fan. I know the rules and I’ve played the game more than once, but it’s not something that grabs my attention or captures my spare time. I find it a bit repetitive, if I must be honest.

But nsuds manages to take that simple game and turn it into a text-based tour-de-force. If you remember my list of high points for text-based software from the start of this year, nsuds manages to hit everything — cleanly, and with considerable authority too.

Does what it promises? Check. Has color? Yes, lots of it. Uses a full-screen interface? Yes, with popup-menus, LED-style clock readouts and scrollable window boxes. On-screen help? Yup, with a lovely scrolling popup window that explains all the keypresses and options available as you play.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is how it’s done.

In fact, my only complaint would be the way it handles very large terminals. Small ones are okay: There is some clipping, but it doesn’t kill the process. Large windows are mostly painted but very large spaces are left untouched — until a popup window pounces on the entire space. Which looks a little silly.🙄

I won’t bother to go into actual gameplay, because aside from arrow and number keys, there’s very little that you need to learn about nsuds. And what’s left is available from the popup help screens.

It’s almost a shame that this much effort and style went into a game as simple and unassuming as sudoku. Imagine what the authors could do with a game of considerable depth and substance. …😐

In any case, I can only hope that they find their way into deeper waters. The world needs programmers who aren’t afraid to make magic for the console. A well-deserved gold star for nsuds, and the hope that more is forthcoming:⭐ Enjoy!🙂